In various installation and construction operations, it is often necessary to position various features with a high degree of accuracy. For example, in high precision operations such as the construction of airport runways and various related features, regulations imposed by various government agencies may require that certain features be permanently installed with a very small margin of error. The Federal Aviation Administration requires, for example, that runway lights be positioned and comprise not more than one degree of offset from a prescribed position. Such a margin of error translates to approximately five millimeters of rotation at the outer circumference of the light. Typically, if such features are installed improperly, error is not recognized until after the feature is encased in large amounts of concrete. Corrective actions are therefore complicated and require substantial time and monetary expenditures.
Current methods and systems for measuring and installing features with high levels of accuracy comprise significant amounts of guess-and-check work, numerous measurements and calculations from known surveying features, and are typically time consuming. Such methods and systems therefore typically consume unnecessary man hours and unduly protract the duration of activities already subject to significant time constraints.